Cars
Cars is a CGI animated film series and Disney media franchise that began with the 2006 film, Cars, produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was followed by a sequel in 2011, and an upcoming spin-off film, Planes, produced by DisneyToon Studios in 2013. Both films were directed by John Lasseter, the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios. Cars is considered to be Pixar's "anniversary" franchise as both films marked Pixar's 20th and 25th anniversaries respectively. Together, the two films have accrued over $1 billion in box office revenue worldwide. ''Cars'' 2006 Cars is the seventh Pixar film. The story is about rookie racecar, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), who gets lost on the way to California for a tiebreaker race in the Piston Cup, a famous race worldwide, and ends up in a little town called Radiator Springs on Route 66, that had since been forgotten because the Interstate was built. He accidentally wrecks the road and is sentenced to fix it. During his time, he goes tractor tipping with his new best friend Tow Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and goes on a drive with his future girlfriend Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt). After McQueen fixes the road, Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) no longer wants him in town, so he calls the news crew to take McQueen to Los Angeles, but it doesn't take long for Doc to realize how much he's helped Radiator Springs, so he goes back to being the Hudson Hornet and becomes McQueen's crew chief, while most of the Radiator Springs folks become his pit crew. McQueen is about to win the race, but helps The King (Richard Petty) cross the finish line after Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton) crashes him and wins the Piston Cup after being in third on the last lap, but is booed by everyone as comeuppance. Despite his loss, Lightning is offered to be the new face of Dinoco, but he decides to stay with Rust-eze. He does, however, arrange for Mater to ride in the Dinoco helicopter just like McQueen promised. The film ends with McQueen setting up his racing headquarters in Radiator Springs, thereby putting it back on the map. ''Cars 2'' 2011 Cars 2 is the twelfth film from Pixar. The story is about Lightning McQueen competing in the first World Grand Prix, a three-part race set in Japan, Italy and England that'll determine the world's fastest racecar. His rival in the race is Italian Formula One car, Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro). Along the way, Mater is mistaken for a spy by British spycar, Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and falls in love with McMissile's assistant Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer). The three of them uncover a plot to sabotage the race led by Professor Zündapp (Thomas Kretschmann) and a group of lemon cars, including Grem (Joe Mantegna) and Acer (Peter Jacobson). When the race reaches its conclusion in England, Mater figures out that Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard) is the mastermind behind the plot to sabotage the race, since he started it in the first place and had intended for cars everywhere to run on oil as revenge for the lemons' reputation as being "history's biggest loser cars," implying that Axlerod is also a lemon. With the plot foiled and the villains defeated, Mater is knighted by the Queen of England (Vanessa Redgrave) and a new race is held in Radiator Springs. Mater is offered to join McMissile and Shiftwell on another mission, but he chooses to stay. He does, however, get to keep the rocket engines he acquired as the two agents take off in Siddeley (Jason Isaacs), the British spy jet.